Roome Consulting

Very excited to be joining the guys at Huddersfield University tomorrow for the first “Brilliant Design Lecture”

Exceptional speakers including Nik from POKE, Jay from ex Brooklyn Brothers and other great voices of the industry. Its ramping up to be a wonderful event, really inspirational and hopefully the first of many to come

Eleanor from Roome will be overseeing the “graduate wheel of fortune” and working with the audience and speakers in chairing questions and putting in her ten pence piece in too

We have a big announcement that will be made next week…….ooooh exciting

for all of us here these are exciting times, and with lots of great changes we are really progressing and developing

 …………………. watch this space

It was very sad when twitter stopped their service, no more sending SMS updates to your phones , BUT , thanks to vodafone, its back…….  We can twitter straight to your mobile.

So for all of you who have been following us since our first twitter in 2006 will have our jobs coming straight into your pocket, how great is that!!!!!!!!!!

tweet tweet away…….

We are quite regularly asked by our freelancers if they are allowed to stay more than 3 months in the same contract?

After speaking to lawyers , accountants and the REC (the professional recruitment body) , the answer simply is YES.

So where did the 3 months maximum then change come from?

Well quite simply if you are with the same company in the same project doing the same role for more than 3 months you are more likely for the men in suits to ask you “are you actually offering a service? Or employed by them therefore shouldn’t you be a permanent member of staff and therefore I think we should look at your tax status….”

According to the REC you can stay in a contract for however long you would like as long as you can prove that you are offering a service , completing a project and not filling a fixed role or position.Really for most of you who freelance you are brought in to work on a project or a section of an account, this means you are fine (although the Government can really ask you questions whenever they like really).

For more details on this, or how it affects your IR35 status do contact the REC »

For those of you struggling to find the time to design or update your portfolio I thought this might be of interest.

Steve Pearce (Creative Director at Skype) just introduced me to this site Krop - Creative Database and its such a brilliant offering. Somewhere that you can be saved the hours of sitting around doodling wondering the what the best way is to display all your brilliant work.

You post your work and they beautifully put it together.

I re-read the Dr Seuss book over weekend “Oh the places you’ll go” and thought I would share its first lines, as for many, times are quite difficult I thought this would send a little cheer. If you’re not a great Dr Seuss fan and would like some more detailed advice in the digital media job market then do give me a call, or drop me an email eleanor@roome.co.uk

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

If you would like to read more then his book is available, well its pretty much available anywhere, I first read it in JAPAN!!!!!

The Home Office has announced changes to tier 1 of the points based system for immigration. Tier 1 applicants will now need to hold a Masters degree and earn at least £20 000.

Those affected will still be able to work in the UK under tier 2; requirements under this tier include the job being advertised in the UK first and their employer being registered with the Home Office as a sponsor. As tier 1 applicants do not need a sponsoring company this change could affect members who supply tier 1 workers on a temporary basis. It is not possible to sponsor migrants for temporary jobs. The change is due to take effect on 1st April.

Whilst the REC (the recruitment advisary specialists) supports the move in principle, as it will free up posts to be advertised to jobseekers in the UK, there could be unforeseen consequences. They are collecting information from members in potential areas of concern to submit to the Home Office. If you have any concerns about this change please contact:

Most of you will be aware that on Monday the man with the bushy eyebrows, or Chancellor Alistair Darling, announced his 2nd pre-budget report and I thought it would be helpful to outline how it might affect you.

The main tax proposals are:

• Reduction in standard rate of VAT from 1 December 2008
• Changes to personal allowances including prospective reduction in the basic personal allowances for individuals with income above £100,000
• A prospective new income tax rate of 45%
• Deferral of the planned increase in small company corporation tax rate
• New loss carry back provisions
• Details of changes to capital allowances for cars.

As a freelancer / consultant, if you have your own Ltd company and are VAT registered; VAT from Monday the 1st of December will reduce from 17.5% to 15% until the 31st of December 2009, at which point it will revert back to 17.5%, therefore all invoices you raise from Monday should have VAT calculated at 15%.

The 15% rate will apply to:

• Supplies of goods and services
• Imports
• Acquisitions of goods from other EC member states
• For more details of changes to the Flat rate scheme

The small companies corporation tax rate, which applies to companies with up to £300,000 of profits, increased from 20% to 21% from 1 April 2008. The intention was to increase this rate to 22% in 2009 but this has been deferred until 1 April 2010.

For a full break down provided by the brilliant people at LAWRENCE & CO

A phrase one employer is using: “synergy-related headcount adjustment”